THE SOFT RACISM OF LOW EXPECTATIONS

Shouldn’t We Do Better for All Children?

The Pygmalion Effect

Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson performed a study that showed that, when children’s IQ scores were switched around, teachers expected better performance from children with “higher” IQ scores and got it.  The reverse was true.  Expectations of performance can positively or negatively affect actual performance.  Thus, the best approach is always to expect a lot from everyone.

Affirmative Action and Social Promotion

Despite this study and many more proof points, students who struggled in school often found that instead of getting help to achieve the grade standard, they were given a good grade anyway.  When I was in high school, we had tracking, a flexible ability grouping standard that put struggling students into smaller, more focused classes, leaving those who found the material easier to be in much more crowded classes.  It worked well.  Students and teachers worked together to help the student move to the next track.  And while a student might be in track 3 for math, they might easily be in track 1 for English.  The goal was clear:  Children should have the customized help they needed so that all would achieve.  This was disbanded with affirmative action and social promotion.

A story that chilled me was that of an Oakland mom who worked hard at low-end jobs to support her family, trusting that they would do better than she had with a quality education.  Illiterate herself, she couldn’t test her son.  It wasn’t till he failed his Army qualification that she realized that the school had graduated her son, despite his failure to learn the material.  Not his fault.  They kept promoting him, despite his difficulty with the material, a problem that worsened with every year.

Instead, he should have had the support Ben Carson had.  As a youth, he had little interest in his education, but his mother held his feet to the fire and his teachers helped him achieve instead of expecting little of him.  Think of all the incredible people who might have done great things in their lives, but didn’t, because of the low expectations they were faced with.  Let’s not forget—diminished expectations are a goal and focus of progressives, the ones who claim to want to help the disadvantaged.

When I first encountered these programs, I decided I wouldn’t want to go to a doctor my age or younger.  The older ones were a great choice; they overcame many hurdles to achieve.  But with affirmative action, do you really know if your doctor is qualified?  That’s another damaging result of these ideas.  Note:  I don’t actually discriminate, but pose questions to every doctor as well as checking out reviews.

I remember reading of one Black woman who declared on her college applications that she did not want affirmative action treatment.  “I’m as good as any White person and should be treated as such,” she said.  And of course, she was right.

Equality vs Equity

Equality simply means treating everyone as equal and allowing them to thrive (or fail) based on their abilities and hard work.  Equity instead means equal outcomes.  As such, this would mean I had a shot at winning American Idol, and my short friends should be able to be on an NBA team if they so desired.  It makes no sense.

A study proved why this doesn’t work.  In a school, they decided to test equal outcomes (equity) by averaging every test and assignment.  The A students began to get lazy—why work so hard to get a B or C?  The poor students weren’t motivated.  They did the same poor jobs and often got better grades. 

We are motivated to do our best when our best is rewarded.  Does any child really feel proud of their “participant” medals?  They know better than the idiots who promoted these ideas.  They want to keep challenging their personal bests, even realizing, as we all must, that we aren’t equally talented in all areas. 

Success Breeds Success

With each achievement comes the reward of accomplishing something hard.  There is no racial aspect to this.  I remember seeing kids in my school petition to move up a track and succeed in accomplishing all the work needed to move to the next grade.  We’ve all had the chance to celebrate our successes; successes we have earned.  No one really feels great when they are awarded an “A” for simply being there.  It’s probably one of the most racist things you can do to someone.

Let’s raise our expectations, challenge each person we teach or work with and enjoy their triumphs together!  Only then can we say the Black lives really matter.

Wokeism